From peatland restoration to natural grazing, Wilderway is mobilising money for rewilding initiatives across Europe. Three critical new partnerships will help the company take its efforts to the next level, offering hope that large-scale nature recovery can be accelerated.
More money for a wilder Europe
Today, nature is under pressure like never before. Yet its large-scale recovery is essential if we are to address our accelerating climate and biodiversity crises. Mobilising significant private finance for initiatives that restore and enhance landscapes, seascapes, and wildlife populations is a challenge — but also holds huge potential. This is one of the key reasons that Rewilding Europe incubated Wilderway — a nature and carbon credit development company — with funding from the Grantham Foundation.
Wilderway, which became an independent entity at the end of 2024, shares Rewilding Europe’s mission to make Europe a wilder place. By connecting landowners, corporate investors, and rewilding initiatives across the continent — from peatland restoration and forest regeneration to the reintroduction of free-roaming wild herbivores — the company is committed to scaling up nature recovery throughout Europe.
Game-changing alliances
In an exciting and influential step forward for Wilderway, three new partners have invested in the company. Rebalance Earth and Triodos – acting through the Triodos Sustainable Finance Foundation – have become new shareholders, while Stichting DOEN has provided funding to accelerate the development of nature credits.
To date, Wilderway has launched credit projects in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Scotland. These will deliver growing benefits for nature, climate, and communities as rewilding initiatives mature — and secure long-term revenue for nature-positive landowners. Strong partnerships are critical for working at landscape scale, making the new investment a key milestone in the company’s evolution.
“These alliances will allow us to harness the expertise, networks, and resources of three like-minded, hugely experienced partners, as we work together to amplify investment in nature restoration across Europe,” says Wilderway’s Portfolio Director David Harleman. “Moving forwards we will look to expand our work in existing countries, and explore new opportunities for credit development and sales in others.”
Nature and carbon credit 101
Both carbon and nature credits incentivise investment in nature-positive and climate-positive actions — including rewilding. These actions are valued and certified by independent organisations, such as Verra, to ensure they are legitimate and delivering beneficial impact at the intended scale.
Whereas carbon credits focus primarily on the drawdown and storage of carbon dioxide by ecosystems such as peatlands and forests, nature credits encompass activities that protect and revitalise biodiversity, such as wetland restoration and measures to enhance natural grazing. As efforts to boost biodiversity often enhance carbon sequestration at the same time, there is frequent overlap between the two.
While carbon credit markets are well established, nature credit markets are in their infancy. However, global demand for biodiversity credits is predicted to reach up to USD 180 billion by 2050, depending on policy uptake and corporate action. The EU’s Nature Credits Roadmap, which was published in July, outlines a pathway for ramping up nature credit investment.
How do credits support practical rewilding?
At the moment Wilderway’s credit development is primarily focused on rewilding initiatives within Rewilding Europe’s operational landscapes in the Greater Côa Valley (Portugal), Iberian Highlands (Spain), and Affric Highlands (Scotland), although the company is also involved in peatland restoration in Ireland.
The Wilderway team decides whether to develop nature or carbon credits based on the type of rewilding taking place at each site. In the Iberian Highlands, for example, carbon credit trading is helping to preserve and regenerate an old-growth forest, with benefits for climate, biodiversity, and the local municipality.
Wilderway’s approach to credit development encompasses four key stages:
- The team identify and partner with a local landowner looking to rewild land. An investable rewilding plan is developed which prioritises long-term nature recovery, while also creating revenue for the landowner.
- Wilderway develops carbon and nature credits in-house, certified by internationally recognised standards using independent validation and verification.
- Wilderway sells the credits to its network of investors who are dedicated to nature recovery. Subsequent revenues are shared with the landowner.
- Rewilding initiatives are rigorously monitored on an ongoing basis to enable transparency and ensure they are managed in a way that sustains positive impact.
Scaling up
Backed by the new investment, Wilderway will continue to develop its projects in Spain, Portugal, Scotland, and Ireland, with the aim of growing its existing portfolio.
“We want to find more landowners looking to rewild their land — and to show how credit projects can generate meaningful income for nature recovery at landscape scale,” says David Harleman. “As credits begin to generate revenue for the first nature-positive landowners, so others will be incentivised to rewild their land too. As a company, our overall measure of success is how many hectares of land under rewilding management we are providing funding for. I’m looking forward to the next stage of growth.”
As it works to make Europe wilder, Wilderway is seeking opportunities to connect with landowners and investors that are passionate about nature recovery. For more information, please contact the Wilderway team.
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